Hitsuzen
by Jysella
Summary: when the world exists in preprogrammed code, naught more then long chains of numbers controlling our every action, but speaking to one person can alter any diget...how can we know which to change?(in the aftermath of a heatwave Yumi shows up at Ulrich's d


Hitsuzen  
  
The world is preprogrammed. Flashes of numbers, series of binomial codes, assaulting the eyes of the ultimate programmer. Every life, emotion, pattern, action; coded among the data. Quantified and neatly filed, easily located for review. Serial ones and zeros dictating the course of each person's life. Unalterable though it may seem even the slightest divergence from its enumerated path can change events in the future. Alter one digit and the rest will follow. But which digit?  
  
...................................................................................................  
  
It was hot. Dark and hot. The kind of night in which the heat of the air and the thousand bodies of the school combined, poured over the landscape, melting the world in it's path, threatening to overtake students in it's rampage. Though throughout the grounds some braver souls ventured outside the majority remained within, sequestered in the relative coolness of centralized air- that is, of course, until the system failed and the heat invaded even the cool bastions which had been sought out. Not even the last safe haven of schoolwork was protection enough for the poor souls trapped in the heats vicious grasp.  
  
Alone in their room two boys lay on their beds in obvious agony at the insurmountable temperature. One sat in his pink undershirt and limply falling blonde hair beside a unique dog mirroring his master's discomfort. The beast's tongue near dragged on the comforter as he panted in hopes of relief. The boy beside him was staring intently at the wall opposite him, moving only enough to push the hair from his face as it fell, purple streak melting with each casual touch. Every so often he reached over to pat the dog before drawing his hand away in the realization that it was another source of heat.  
  
On the bed directly across from him lay a brown haired boy on his back, eyes fixed blankly on the ceiling. His head was supported by a discarded cotton-plaid shirt, rumpled up and jammed underneath in a last ditch effort to prevent further strain within the abysmal clime. Absentmindedly he threw a bright red ball in the air, watching it twirl for a few moments in prefect suspension before snatching it from freedoms hold and repeating the process. Neither boy made a sound as they sat in their discomfort waiting for either sleep, death, the return of the godly air conditioning or the freak snow storm they had been promised.  
  
The lights were off in their room, obscuring everything in a misty layer of musky darkness, the air hanging heavy over every object it touched.  
  
"This is XANA's doing" the blonde boy whispered into the heat necessitated silence. His words somehow further burdened the already heavy state of the rooms air, forcing the last small vestige of relief from it's talons.  
  
"Has to be" the other boy agreed without turning his head to acknowledge his roommate. "How else could the air conditioning failure be in such perfect timing with... this," he gestured softly to the room, and melting pen on its solitary desk. The blonde boy winced and was about to speak once more when a loud thunderclap broke this possibility. The entire building experience a sharp withdrawal of breath that shook the very foundations until the soft patter of rain was heard. A cheer went up loud enough to rival the growing storm.  
  
"This should cool life down" the blonde said again, smiling in the relief that washed over his face "huh Ulrich?"  
  
The brunette stared briefly out the window before allowing a small smile to grace his near emotionless face "sure, Od" he murmured as lightening flashed outside.  
  
"So why are you so quiet?" his companion responded, alluding to his disinterest in the immediate coolness that followed.  
  
"I don't know, something is just...feels... wrong" in response the blonde shrugged and through a pillow across the room, hitting Ulrich square in the face. The brunette smiled "you are not getting away with that" he cried tossing another pillow. Within minutes the room was a mass of floating feathers, accentuated by the whimpering of a small, hairless, dog.  
  
......................................................................................................  
  
One hour later found both boys collapsed in a pile of feathers in silence interrupted only by scattered fits of giggles and the occasional fist full of feathers. Outside their room the storm had gotten worse but the heat had ended and for that they could endure the occasional thunderclap, which sent the rooms third inhabitant running in circles to avoid whatever monster it conjured up. It was in the midst of one of these fits, sparked by the aforementioned inhabitants fear, that they became aware of a small knock at the door.  
  
The boys glared at one another instantly competitive, neither wanted to relinquish their spot on the floor.  
  
"Rocks, paper scissors" they said in one monotone voice as they began to pound their fists in between them, displacing several feathers in their game.  
  
"Rocks beat scissors," the blonde called triumphantly after one round "I win!"  
  
"Two out of three" the brunette growled in response, throwing his fist once more. Seconds later this was followed by a cry of "paper beats rock, I win"  
  
So this was it, it had all come down to the last game. Both boys sat up and glowered at each other as they repeated the ritual. Whosoever lost would be forced to stand up and walk the entire two feet to the door and find who needed their attention so desperately that it couldn't wait until morning had returned with it's annoyingly cheerful heat. The brunette, Ulrich, raised his hand and pounded it against the blondes " rocks-"  
  
The blonde repeated the motion adding "paper" in the appropriate slot.  
  
In one voice they completed the chant "scissors says shoot" each opened their hand and closed their eyes, afraid to view the outcome of the duel.  
  
Overcoming his apprehension first, Od looked and paused for a moment in shock before joyously sounding "scissors beats paper I win." Grumbling Ulrich stood and stretched the kinks from his back and legs. Ignoring the mocking glare of his roommate Ulrich shuffled to the door and, after a final glance of defeat towards Od, opened the door with a surprising flourish.  
  
"Yumi...?" he whispered puzzled at the sight.  
  
On the other side of the doorway stood a pale girl with dark hair down to her shoulders and equally dark eyes. She was dripping wet and shivering in the black nightshirt that she was wearing. It was thin and soaked through, clinging wetly to her body. As the door flung open the rooms only light source, a small lamp, fell to the floor, plunging the three children into darkness. She looked up at the boy in the door and whispered one small word before collapsing in on him in tears. Over the years they had known one another he had grown to a height barely an inch taller than her but it was enough. After an initial moment of shock he awkwardly hugged her small frame to his and patted her back reassuringly, not even trying to coax an explanation from her hysterical state, murmuring under his breath at all times one of the few phrases he knew in the girls native language; daijoubu dai yo, it'll all be okay.  
  
Amidst the chaos of the intrusion the other boy slipped quietly from the room to join a friend down the hall, realizing that it was better to leave the two alone then to press them with his presence. He brought with him nothing and was accompanied only by the strange dog that had, no doubt, sensed the same thing.  
  
...........................................................................................  
  
Still in his school clothes he walked down the cool hallway, bare feet slapping coldly against carpeted floors. Beside him the small dog scampered in joy to be out so late. In the dark he yawned and fumbled to remember the room, was it two or three doors down from his own? In the light such cognition came easier but- there it was with the soft glow peaking out from beneath the door crack... another late night visit. As much as he hated interrupting his friend he stopped before the door and slowly raised a tired hand up to the wooden frame. He yawned once more before bashing his knuckles against it, creating a muffled sound heard only by the room's sole inhabitant.  
  
"I was just finishing school work" the voice called through amidst embarrassed shuffling.  
  
"It's only me Jeremy" he returned quietly  
  
"Oh, hi Od" the other boy responded opening the barrier between them.  
  
"Can we crash here for the night" indicating himself and the strange beast beside him "Yu- Ulrich was snoring" something told him not to mention the hysterical girl that had appeared at his door. If she wanted to share there was always the morning, and he was tired... a snoring roommate is much more easy to explain away than a crying friend.  
  
"Um, sure...." The other boy responded, removing his glasses to wipe them and replace a few wisps of straggling blonde hair "I was just explaining to Aelita..."  
  
"Hello Od" a distinctly feminine voice called from the computer screen. Od smiled slowly  
  
"Hope I'm not interrupting anything...." Jeremy immediately flushed bright red, color enough to merit a crabs jealousy, whilst Aelita tipped her head in confusion. "never mind" he said chuckling as he removed a blanket and pillow from Jeremy's bed. Whilst the other boy frantically tried to deny his comment he lay down and fell asleep leaving the rooms other inhabitant to return to their previous activities.  
  
...................................................................................................  
  
His shirt beginning to grow wet from her tears and dripping nature, he rocked her slowly whispering quiet comfort in her ear. When his shirt soaked through such that the moisture touched his skin, freezing him in the cold, he didn't make a noise other than the continual stream of comfort. Gradually the girl began to calm down, crying fading to an occasional sob until she was able to look up at the boy she'd collapsed into.  
  
"Arigato" she whispered quietly, softly into the dark room.  
  
Meekly he smiled down at her "it's all right" he murmured, wiping a straying tear from her face. It's usually pale, calm, demeanor had exploded in a vibrant display of reds, her eyes were swollen; rubbed raw from the passage of tears. She winced at the gesture but said nothing, his eyes held apology enough for not clearly thinking his action through.  
  
"Maybe we should get you some clothes to change into?" he asked out loud to a girl he didn't expect to respond. She nodded quietly and sat down on the bed nearest to her, one covered in rich purple cloth indistinguishable from the room in the dark.  
  
Ulrich knelt down before his own dresser and, after several moments, uncovered the object of his search; a spare shirt large enough to double as a nightshirt. "Here" he said tossing it to her with a towel. She caught it gracefully and looked down, embarrassed to meet his gaze.  
  
"Why don't you go change before... I don't know... you get sick or something"  
  
Yumi smiled, for the first time that evening, at his embarrassedly fumbled attempt at paternal care before retreating to the alcove of the room Ulrich and Odd shared.  
  
"I wish I could shower," she said wistfully facing the wall.  
  
"I know what you mean," Ulrich murmured in reply looking down at his only, newly soaked, clothing "but Jim would throw a fit if he caught you he- how did you get past Jim?"  
  
Yumi blinked in the darkness for a moment before laughing quietly. "I don't know, I guess it was fate"  
  
...............................................................................................  
  
Jeremy removed his glasses and carefully rubbed his eyes, before stifling a yawn and glancing at the computers clock.  
  
"One A.M.?!?" he exclaimed to the silent room, alarming his only other conscious companion. Aelita looked up at him through the glass-screened prison of the computer smiled.  
  
"Why yes Jeremy" she responded smoothly, failing to realize that the blonde boy hadn't known. "Couldn't you tell?" her voice held within in it a calming ring, difficult to emulate, but extremely soothing at the late hour.  
  
"No, and it's fine, it's just that... we've been talking for almost five hours... I need to sleep... breakfast is in..." his sentences were strained in his panic, continually breaking off before a full thought could form. Aelita smiled at his disheveled nature and shook her head at the boy, recognizing his behavior even from within her trap.  
  
"Breakfast is in five hours, that is plenty of time to sleep. Good night Jeremy." The blonde boy looked at the floor for a few moments before slowly meeting her eyes, a sad smile tracing his face.  
  
"I suppose you're right, Aelita, good night. I will contact you again at noon standard time?" Aelita nodded and he smiled sadly once more, blushing deeply when she blew him a soft kiss, before disconnecting with Lyoko for the night. Before removing his glasses and turning in himself he took a soft look towards the boy on his floor.  
  
Odd's hair lay about in a multitude of wiry tangles spanning the floor. One hand was flung haphazardly over his face- a warding against the computers light- whilst the other was firmly clutched about kiwi's waist. His blankets had slipped to form knots about his legs, restricting nightly thrashings to a few, restrained, movements. He looked peaceful, innocent, and yet. The small upturn of his mouth just at the corner was an expression Jeremy knew full well. The boy had lied during the day; and it had not been in class.  
  
'Oh well" Jeremy spoke aloud, startling even himself "Odd will tell me when he's ready"  
  
.................................................................................................  
  
"You ready to talk?" Ulrich asked, sitting down next to the newly changed girl. The long wet strands of her ebony hair were tied in a towel, awkwardly sitting atop her crown. The wet nightshirt was balled in a corner of the room, left to soak in it's own pity. In it's place a was a black shirt bearing a singular red bat across it's front. The shirt was so large that the small body was lost within its creases while she sat on the edge of the purple inches away from the damp spot she had first inhabited. The girl looked down sadly, balling the overly large nightshirt in her hands. She shook her head, dislodging the towel from her hair, and continued to stare pointedly at her feet.  
  
Ulrich let out a slow breath before nodding his head at her choice. He didn't want to press it when she had just stopped crying, when she had finally calmed down. In a swift motion he lay backwards on the bed, hands beneath his head and legs dangling over the bed, and stared upwards. The room fell silent, the slow whirling of a fan on it's last legs the only noise next to the children's breathing.  
  
"They know," Yumi blurted into the silence, fresh tears welling to her eyes and slipping down her chin, little puddles forming on the blankets at her side, "they were...I saw them... and then... he...she....they know". Her words were frantic, slips of sentences forced in the space between sobs, meaning dropping in the attempt to keep the words Ulrich stared at her for a few moments, his mind struggling to translate the information received.  
  
"Why don't you start at the beginning, Yumi?"  
  
"Yeah, okay, they- they know about... me...they were yelling and I went downstairs for water... he hit her... she was on the floor... I screamed and... and papa was in the air, in the air, Ulrich five, ten feet... and mama looked up... and he fell... and she... he...he didn't open his eyes and she just...." She started sobbing again, large tears rolled down her cheeks as each fit wracked her shoulders, "he just lay there and she looked at me...I couldn't stay"  
  
"Do you want to go back tonight?" he asked gently, not wanting to cause her any more grief than necessary. Another small object clattered needlessly to the floor, as she looked up, horrified at the suggestion. "Then, you can stay here for the night... I'm sure Odd's already asleep on Jeremy's floor so he won't mind..." he watched her shiver and shook his head slightly in the dark "come on I know you're tired...and even if you're not I am" he waited wile she slid under the covers before standing up and crossing the room to his own bed "good night Yumi"  
  
.......................................................................................................  
  
Odd rolled over, removing his face from the safe confines of his pillow, letting it loose to the air, and instantly regretted the action. Light poured in over Jeremy's open blinds, shocking his delicate eyes into screeching pain. He sat up and clutched his head tightly. In his own room, shared with the incessant insomniac Ulrich, the Blinds were never up, plunging the room into a perpetually darkened state. Tentatively he opened his eyes once more only to discover that he had not, in fact, been dreaming; he was in Jeremy's room, and Jeremy's room was bright.  
  
"Good morning Odd" the other boy called from before the computer screen. True the sun streaming in through the open windows caused the room to explode in brightness but the lit computer screen was not helping matters much. Behaving as someone quite hung over, Odd made his way out the door, grabbing a clean, or what he hoped as clean, towel off the chair on his left. Clumsily he stalked down the hallway to the bathroom, stumbling over each slight deviation.  
  
He stopped blankly before one of the doors, indistinguishable from the rest in the hallway, and knocked loudly on it's mahogany surface. Curses emanated from the inhabitants of the room and he, feeling as though he had done his part, smiled and continued down the hall. His hair still hung grossly about his shoulders. Dark circles played rings around his eyes. A shower would clear his thoughts, should make it easier to focus.  
  
Fumbling down the hallway he found the open bathroom and walked in, feet instantly recoiling from the cold tiled surface. He walked in, skipping slightly to avoid discomfort, and chose one of the shower stalls. In the early morning, before any one was awake, he had his choice of the row. He closed the outer curtain, metal rings sliding against the rusting metal bar, and hung the towel over a bar. He reached into the other door and turned on the shower, allowing the water to run until it was warm before stepping in to wash the nights heat from his body.  
  
The water ran hard upon the blue porcelain, running rivulets down his body. The loud sound reverberated around the room, masking any further sound. Odd was alone with just his thoughts as he was so many times. Each of the others had someone else, real or not, except odd. Odd had his own thoughts and himself...he did share a room with Ulrich and classes with both him and Jeremy and yet... he wasn't particularly close with either of them... not like Ulrich and Yumi. But then, of course, They were close for other reasons and he wasn't jealous.  
  
Fully clean he shut off the water and left the bathroom, wrapping the towel around his waist. Due to the early hour no one was in the halls or even in the bathroom, and this made it extremely easy for him to slip, unnoticed, through the halls and knock on his own door when normally he would have barged right in. After a few moments it swung open and admitted him, but not after Ulrich glanced furtively about the hallway for a few moments.  
  
"Hey, no need to worry" he said, nodding a hi to Yumi, "just getting my clothes- hey is that my shirt?" Ulrich sighed and nodded, wincing at his friends early alertness.  
  
"About those clothes... got anything black?" Odd looked at him for a few moments before slowly shaking his head.  
  
"No way man, she can borrow your clothes"  
  
"She won't fit in my clothes" Ulrich retorted standing up in front of his friend, taking care to accentuate the few inches he towered over him. Odd sighed in defeat.  
  
"Okay, yeah, she can wear whatever he needs, bottom left drawer." Yumi looked at the two of the incredulously throughout the entire exchange.  
  
"You know" she muttered, taking the clothes offered to her "she can hear you" and with that she left to change, trailed seconds later by Odd mimicking her haughty retreat. In the middle of the room Ulrich stood confusedly staring after them before grabbing his own clothes and running to the shower himself.  
  
........................................................................................................  
  
Jysella: ack... I'm on 15 pages and I'm not done... forget that... I'm on 15 pages and don't know what's going on?  
  
Audience of delusions: wow Jysa, now that takes skill  
  
Jysella: shut up, just do my disclaimer and let me sleep  
  
Audience of delusions: whatever, Jysella, your insane authoress, owns none of the characters contained within  
  
Jysella: so don't sue... and review... please... I need help...  
  
Audience of delusions: yeah, but I don't think the readers can supply it  
  
Jysella: speaking of that anyone want to buy a slightly used audience...what,... I'm not trying to pawn them off....just review... really, no please?  
  
Audience of delusions: pathetic  
  
Jysella: shut up, it's not pathetic... besides you need pride to be pathetic  
  
owari 


End file.
